Friday, March 05, 2004
Five props fight for spots
Who will fill the forward positions for Parramatta's opening game against the Doggies is anybody's guess. There are at least two packs of quality forwards and a number of deserving players are going to miss out.
According to a short piece in The Australian today, Michael Vella is guaranteed one spot "while the other five muscle-men fighting for two positions are Aaron Cannings, Craig Stapleton, Chris Armitt, Adam Peek and Corey Pearson."
And we haven't even begun talking about players like Justin Tsoulos or Mal Kafusi.
Cannings and Pearson have both shown fantastic pre-season form and would be 1Eyed Eels picks. We also would not be surprised if we had two props on the bench, so it's possible one other could get a run.
Nathan Cayless clearly has one second row position locked up and Nathan Hindmarsh will start but whether that's at lock or second row is not clear. That will probably be dependent on whether Daniel Wagon is to pack into the scrum or if he will start at five-eighth. Your then left with Lee Hopkins, Dean Widders and Chris Muckert fighting for the final second row and/or bench spots.
Even once the team is announced, it is unlikely our questions will be answered. Smith is likely to name at least a six man bench and we're only going to know the make-up when the teams are announced just before kickoff.
The only that is for certain is that until Parra start getting players knocked around by injuries, we're going to have the biggest, meanest, most experienced Premiere League pack in the game. We've got more depth than the Pacific Ocean.
Who will fill the forward positions for Parramatta's opening game against the Doggies is anybody's guess. There are at least two packs of quality forwards and a number of deserving players are going to miss out.
According to a short piece in The Australian today, Michael Vella is guaranteed one spot "while the other five muscle-men fighting for two positions are Aaron Cannings, Craig Stapleton, Chris Armitt, Adam Peek and Corey Pearson."
And we haven't even begun talking about players like Justin Tsoulos or Mal Kafusi.
Cannings and Pearson have both shown fantastic pre-season form and would be 1Eyed Eels picks. We also would not be surprised if we had two props on the bench, so it's possible one other could get a run.
Nathan Cayless clearly has one second row position locked up and Nathan Hindmarsh will start but whether that's at lock or second row is not clear. That will probably be dependent on whether Daniel Wagon is to pack into the scrum or if he will start at five-eighth. Your then left with Lee Hopkins, Dean Widders and Chris Muckert fighting for the final second row and/or bench spots.
Even once the team is announced, it is unlikely our questions will be answered. Smith is likely to name at least a six man bench and we're only going to know the make-up when the teams are announced just before kickoff.
The only that is for certain is that until Parra start getting players knocked around by injuries, we're going to have the biggest, meanest, most experienced Premiere League pack in the game. We've got more depth than the Pacific Ocean.
